We often hear Airbnb horror stories, but most are from the guest’s point of view. However, we don’t often talk about how it can be challenging for the host as well. I mean, we all know the world has plenty of weirdos. Imagine trusting them with your property. Urgh, sounds scary, doesn’t it?
With nightmare guests like that, people must really regret being hosts. From stealing to turning the place into an absolute mess, they can run into all kinds of problems. But an online community lets hosts share stories about what unhinged guests are capable of. Check out the wildest ones below!
#41
Guest covers ring doorbell
I had a guest that booked for 42 nights. As soon as he got there he wanted to access the garage. The garage is not part of the listing. It is not listed under amenities. And it states there is free parking on premises. (Which is the drive way). He then broke into my basement, which also is not part of the rental. He said the door was unlocked which I do not believe. He then started complaining about the ring door bell was facing inside. He said that I needed to have someone move the doorbell. I told him the ring did not point inside only the porch and sidewalk. He proceeded to cover the ring door bell. I contacted airbnb safety team and advised them that he would need to leave if he didn't remove the covering. They asked him to leave and now are refunding him all his money except $65. Does not even cover the cleaning fee. How do I appeal this?
I had a guest that booked for 42 nights. As soon as he got there he wanted to access the garage. The garage is not part of the listing. It is not listed under amenities. And it states there is free parking on premises. (Which is the drive way). He then broke into my basement, which also is not part of the rental. He said the door was unlocked which I do not believe. He then started complaining about the ring door bell was facing inside. He said that I needed to have someone move the doorbell. I told him the ring did not point inside only the porch and sidewalk. He proceeded to cover the ring door bell. I contacted airbnb safety team and advised them that he would need to leave if he didn't remove the covering. They asked him to leave and now are refunding him all his money except $65. Does not even cover the cleaning fee. How do I appeal this?
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7points
#42
Guests being ridiculous.
Current guests (4 adults, 4 night stay) want me to supply 4 bath towels per person per day. That is 64 towels used over the course of a 4 night stay! They tell me they each shower twice a day and want to use 2 clean bath towels after each shower. I usually just supply 2 large bath towels per guest for the entire stay if just 4 nights. They spring this on me right after check-in.
This is a one bedroom cabin that does not have a washer-dryer due to septic (this is clearly stated in the listing). All linens are laundered professionally, offsite, by a linen service, and I absorb the normal cost. I don't even have 64 bath towels and the linen service has a 3 day turn-around, so not even possible if I did have 64 towels. I offered to supply 16 towels (double the normal amount), but they were unhappy with this and demanded more.
The four of them are paying $160 a night (so $40 each per night plus taxes/fee). Cleaning fee is $125. Rates are average for this location, so not particularly low or high. This is a nice place but it is not the Ritz Carlton with an endless supply of linens. It's a small cabin in the Colorado Rockies. I've told them I can drop off an additional 8 towels, but that is the best I an do. Preparing for a poor review, but oh well.
Is it just me, or are guests becoming more and more demanding with ridiculous requests / demands/ expectations?
Current guests (4 adults, 4 night stay) want me to supply 4 bath towels per person per day. That is 64 towels used over the course of a 4 night stay! They tell me they each shower twice a day and want to use 2 clean bath towels after each shower. I usually just supply 2 large bath towels per guest for the entire stay if just 4 nights. They spring this on me right after check-in.
This is a one bedroom cabin that does not have a washer-dryer due to septic (this is clearly stated in the listing). All linens are laundered professionally, offsite, by a linen service, and I absorb the normal cost. I don't even have 64 bath towels and the linen service has a 3 day turn-around, so not even possible if I did have 64 towels. I offered to supply 16 towels (double the normal amount), but they were unhappy with this and demanded more.
The four of them are paying $160 a night (so $40 each per night plus taxes/fee). Cleaning fee is $125. Rates are average for this location, so not particularly low or high. This is a nice place but it is not the Ritz Carlton with an endless supply of linens. It's a small cabin in the Colorado Rockies. I've told them I can drop off an additional 8 towels, but that is the best I an do. Preparing for a poor review, but oh well.
Is it just me, or are guests becoming more and more demanding with ridiculous requests / demands/ expectations?
Report
7points
#43
Guest freaking out over mail
I have an extremely needy guest staying for 13 days. He has been there for 3 so far, and every day has been something. Today he messaged me asking why there was no mailbox, as he had mail being delivered. I asked him if he was having packages delivered and he said mail from fedex and usps.
Called him to clarify further and he said that he forwarded all his mail to the Airbnb for his stay. I told him I’m not sure how that was going to work as all the mail is forwarded to the owners out of state for security purposes. He asked me “how am I supposed to pay my bills? I need that mail!” Then he asked if we have a maintenance person and how easy it would be for him to come put in a mailbox for his stay. Also said “you NEVER have people stay more than a week or 2 who need mail?” To which I replied no, we’ve never had this issue come up once before in over 100 stays.
Kinda baffled by this and confused how to handle it further. I told him I would call the post office tomorrow and attempt to figure this out but also feel like this isn’t my issue to handle? But also trying to avoid a bad review as there have been other issues already with him. Who forwards their mail to a short term vacation rental ffs.
I have an extremely needy guest staying for 13 days. He has been there for 3 so far, and every day has been something. Today he messaged me asking why there was no mailbox, as he had mail being delivered. I asked him if he was having packages delivered and he said mail from fedex and usps.
Called him to clarify further and he said that he forwarded all his mail to the Airbnb for his stay. I told him I’m not sure how that was going to work as all the mail is forwarded to the owners out of state for security purposes. He asked me “how am I supposed to pay my bills? I need that mail!” Then he asked if we have a maintenance person and how easy it would be for him to come put in a mailbox for his stay. Also said “you NEVER have people stay more than a week or 2 who need mail?” To which I replied no, we’ve never had this issue come up once before in over 100 stays.
Kinda baffled by this and confused how to handle it further. I told him I would call the post office tomorrow and attempt to figure this out but also feel like this isn’t my issue to handle? But also trying to avoid a bad review as there have been other issues already with him. Who forwards their mail to a short term vacation rental ffs.
6points
#44
Guest shocked that we don’t provide a free Netflix account
We have a guest who sent us a picture of our Samsung smart TV (which includes sound bar and subwoofer) and the screen was showing the Netflix login page. She said surprisingly: oh, there’s no streaming service provided? I politely informed her that we provide smart TVs, which include all of the streaming services, including free channels, but that guests would need to login to their own personal accounts for things like Netflix Hulu subscriptions etc.
Every Airbnb or modern hotel I’ve ever stayed at had the same set up, where the guests would need to login. I wanted to ask the community here, should we be providing a house account for the property? Do any other hosts pay for a Netflix subscription for guests to use?
We have a guest who sent us a picture of our Samsung smart TV (which includes sound bar and subwoofer) and the screen was showing the Netflix login page. She said surprisingly: oh, there’s no streaming service provided? I politely informed her that we provide smart TVs, which include all of the streaming services, including free channels, but that guests would need to login to their own personal accounts for things like Netflix Hulu subscriptions etc.
Every Airbnb or modern hotel I’ve ever stayed at had the same set up, where the guests would need to login. I wanted to ask the community here, should we be providing a house account for the property? Do any other hosts pay for a Netflix subscription for guests to use?
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6points
#45
How would you handle guests (2 adults) that used 1.5 entire tubs of your laundry detergent for a 2 night stay, then just filled one of them with about 2 inches of water and left it?
I mean, it’s there to use but they finished a half tub of detergent, opened a fully unused one, completely finished it, then filled it with a little water and left it. That is like $25 in detergent for 2 nights. I know they did insane amounts of laundry because the dryer lint tray was overflowing. Just strange. Not sure if I just let it slide, charge them, and/or mention it in my review for other hosts. They also took/used every single paper product in the house and pantry, but willing to let that slide I guess. Weird guests man.
[Edit] update:
I didn’t take any action other than just leaving an honest and direct review, both positive and negative. I’ll let other hosts make their decision based on the facts I conveyed. Consider this topic thoroughly discussed. Thank you all that provided your input. I don’t need the 500th comment telling me to just leave out a few tide pods next time. I get it. All good.
I mean, it’s there to use but they finished a half tub of detergent, opened a fully unused one, completely finished it, then filled it with a little water and left it. That is like $25 in detergent for 2 nights. I know they did insane amounts of laundry because the dryer lint tray was overflowing. Just strange. Not sure if I just let it slide, charge them, and/or mention it in my review for other hosts. They also took/used every single paper product in the house and pantry, but willing to let that slide I guess. Weird guests man.
[Edit] update:
I didn’t take any action other than just leaving an honest and direct review, both positive and negative. I’ll let other hosts make their decision based on the facts I conveyed. Consider this topic thoroughly discussed. Thank you all that provided your input. I don’t need the 500th comment telling me to just leave out a few tide pods next time. I get it. All good.
Report
6points
#46
"We cannot possibly stay here"
Message from our guest today:
"We arrived to the property - looked inside and unfortunately it is significantly below our expectations. Very dated, ceilings are extremely low… we cannot possibly stay here for 10 days.
So we left for a hotel and not going to stay with you.
We would like to request a full refund"
We have 151 reviews and a 4.97 rating. After 7 years on the platform, this is our first complaint about the ceilings (which are 7 ft tall, though they do slope down in several places. Our listing very clearly states our house was built in 1928 and is cozy. I have since updated it with square footage and details on the sloping which is only in several random areas). We had a brand new tile shower put in in April 2026. The floors were completely redone in November 2025. All new painting was done September 2025. The kitchen has high end appliances; everything is small as it is a small cottage, as noted in the listing.
If only people could communicate without being so rude. This is my home. We put a lot of love into our space. Hard not to take it personally.
Message from our guest today:
"We arrived to the property - looked inside and unfortunately it is significantly below our expectations. Very dated, ceilings are extremely low… we cannot possibly stay here for 10 days.
So we left for a hotel and not going to stay with you.
We would like to request a full refund"
We have 151 reviews and a 4.97 rating. After 7 years on the platform, this is our first complaint about the ceilings (which are 7 ft tall, though they do slope down in several places. Our listing very clearly states our house was built in 1928 and is cozy. I have since updated it with square footage and details on the sloping which is only in several random areas). We had a brand new tile shower put in in April 2026. The floors were completely redone in November 2025. All new painting was done September 2025. The kitchen has high end appliances; everything is small as it is a small cottage, as noted in the listing.
If only people could communicate without being so rude. This is my home. We put a lot of love into our space. Hard not to take it personally.
Report
6points
#47
Guests passed away (natural causes) in our home. Refund?
Ugh. So sad. Our guest passed away in our rental two days into a 12 day stay. They were staying while their home was being repaired and the entire fee for the stay was being covered by their homeowners insurance. They also booked a month with us post labor day. The guest passed and now the insurance company wants a full refund for both stays. We have a firm cancellation policy.
I want to do what's right here, but also want to make sure we're not overcompensating due to the nature of the situation. We are in a remote area that is highly seasonal. We likely wont even be able to rebook even a few days to try to recoop since its the end of summer. Insurance company reached out twice already today on Airbnb, even went as far as trying to modify the guests stay and wants a full refund for the month they booked coming up with a partial refund for the current stay plus all extenuating booking fees. Also will mention the agent booked the stay under their personal account for the insurance recipient. Im thinking to just have them contact airbnb customer service to have them handle it since there are extenuating circumstances.
Thoughts?
Ugh. So sad. Our guest passed away in our rental two days into a 12 day stay. They were staying while their home was being repaired and the entire fee for the stay was being covered by their homeowners insurance. They also booked a month with us post labor day. The guest passed and now the insurance company wants a full refund for both stays. We have a firm cancellation policy.
I want to do what's right here, but also want to make sure we're not overcompensating due to the nature of the situation. We are in a remote area that is highly seasonal. We likely wont even be able to rebook even a few days to try to recoop since its the end of summer. Insurance company reached out twice already today on Airbnb, even went as far as trying to modify the guests stay and wants a full refund for the month they booked coming up with a partial refund for the current stay plus all extenuating booking fees. Also will mention the agent booked the stay under their personal account for the insurance recipient. Im thinking to just have them contact airbnb customer service to have them handle it since there are extenuating circumstances.
Thoughts?
5points
#48
Please just buy a multi-pack of consumable items!
I'm a host and also a frequent AirBnb traveller. A pet peeve is places which list a dishwasher and washing machine, but DON'T provide the detergent or pods required to actually use these.
If I'm paying hundreds of dollars a night to stay in a house, the absolute least a host can do is spent a few cents on detergent. Just buy a multi-pack, please!
I'm a host and also a frequent AirBnb traveller. A pet peeve is places which list a dishwasher and washing machine, but DON'T provide the detergent or pods required to actually use these.
If I'm paying hundreds of dollars a night to stay in a house, the absolute least a host can do is spent a few cents on detergent. Just buy a multi-pack, please!
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3points